Passwords: Love them or hate them, we all need to use them. Now, according to a new survey, the internet users of the world are starting to get fed up with the entire idea.
75% of respondents to a global study on technology fears and concerns have stated that they “want changes to how they login to apps and websites,” with the hassle of keeping track of passwords emerging as the top problem.
The average person has 100 passwords, we found out last year. Given the seemingly endless onslaught of data breaches and ransomware attacks, it’s understandable that people are starting to feel like they’re putting in a lot of effort without getting the security they need.
Nearly 9 in 10 Consumers Hate Tracking Their Passwords
The survey, out from Ping Identity and covering responses from 8,000 consumers worldwide, found a shockingly high number of consumers (89%) complain about tracking passwords.
Other stats from the same survey highlight the average internet users’ growing wariness of identity fraud or other cyber threats. Here are the top takeaways:
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- 87% of consumers are concerned about identity fraud.
- 89% are concerned about AI impacting their identity security.
- 54% have stopped using an account or online service because they became frustrated when trying to login.
- 97% have concerns about their personal data being online.
- 36% have been the victim of identity fraud.
- 85% state barriers to adopting a digital wallet on their personal mobile device.
Small business owners in particular should take note of how over half of internet users have turned away from an online service when they couldn’t log in quickly enough. That’s a big potential barrier keeping your ecommerce website from converting causal viewers to buyers.
The Downsides of Passwords
Honestly, everyone is right to complain about how hard passwords are to remember. They’re all supposed to be unique for every website, they’re all supposed to be a lengthy string of letters and numbers, and we need to remember them at a moment’s notice.
Humans simply don’t have the brain capacity for modern password expectations, and the studies prove it: A 2022 survey found that a quarter of the consumers polled say they recall passwords by logging them on a digital device, while about a third (32%) write the password down on a piece of paper. This opens them up to security risks. Plus, since 41% of consumers just rely on their memory, weak passwords are common.
Naturally, hackers are taking advantage. In just one example, one of the largest hotel groups in the world lost a ton of data to a few hackers who claimed that they were able to access the databases by trying out the simple password “Qwerty1234.”
Worse, one audit from early last year found that one in five federal agency passwords are weak and easy to crack.
A Passwordless Future?
Tech giants are trying to move away from passwords. Apple, Google, and Microsoft have been pushing towards passkeys — tech that relies on biometric data like face ID or fingerprints — for several years now.
The shift is slow, however, and biometric data simply can’t be used for every website. Many consumers are relying on password management tools instead. We’ve rounded up the best password managers in the past.
